10/11/2003

The Mechwarrior series has long relied on the background lore as developed by FASA to serve as backdrops to their games. Unfortunately the companies break up and the subsequent transfer of the liscense to full microsoft ownership has resulted in an extremely poor story. The story unlike previous games centers on a no name duke on a non name world whom is killed as Steiner forces press the violent Federated Commonwealth civil war. The story is poor with little reason to feel any alliance to the characters. The video cut scenes come off as little more than an after thought to the missions Microsoft designed. Also of note is the entire lack of explanation for all the clan mechs being in the deep inner sphere... a daishi, come on.

The graphics are top notch, though its hard to expect much less from the series. Weapon effects are beautiful, the frame rate is decent, and this keeps the action running smooth. Unfortunately the damage shown by mechs is more flashy than realistic. Whenever your mech is damaged expect lots of sparks and flames but little twisted metal or holes. Also the level design show cases some beautiful peripherals especially in the environmental effects like rain and the mission's neutral objects, like trees and deer.

The sounds are wonderful and immersive. Its hard not to get swept into the whole "mech simulator" feel with all the electrical crackling, powerful foot steps, and crunching metal. Truelly a top notch sound team, though the music is very bland. The music generally is of the generic action game variety avoiding the more controversial though more effective, imho, route of using techno, rock, or other realistic fast paced scores. Instead players are gifted with generic uptempo orchestrial digital music.

The game play is a mixture of good intention and bad execution. The first primary complaint with the game comes in the limited balance. Microsoft realizing players generally only pilot the largest mechs tried desperately to encourage each mech to have a flavor with a "hard port" system. This means when customizing mechs only certain equipment can fit in certain spaces. This could have been amazing unfortunately the largest mechs not only have the most spaces they generally are large and have "omni" ports capable of supporting any kind of weapondry. The result is that if the system were not developed most players would use 90-100 ton mechs, now all players do because smaller mechs have extremely limited choices for equipment. Also its nice to have the heat and ammo to limit weapons efectiveness but the fact that these can easily be toggled off leads to a more arcade feel in multiplayer games. Applause should be given for maintaining a togglable 3rd person 1st person mode, that can also force 1st person. Finally the few levels that come with the game are also well done. Unfortunately they are predictable and realtively limited especially in terms of multiplayer mode.